


sail for the dawn

by coffeecrowns



Series: everyone lives [1]
Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Canon Disabled Character, Cuddling & Snuggling, Depression, Disability, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Literal Sleeping Together, Multi, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Team as Family, except Bertie lol, they all love each other so much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:01:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26704123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeecrowns/pseuds/coffeecrowns
Summary: Grizzop and Sasha live and make to to the main timeline. Set in the Japanse safehouse, vaguely around the Shoin Institute.Zolf adjusts to the return of Hamid and Sasha, and the new presence of Azu, Grizzop, and Cel. Turns out there's a lot of adjusting on all sides. (Softer than tags would indicate)
Relationships: Celiquillithon "Cel" Sidebottom & Zolf Smith, Grizzop drik Acht Amsterdam & Zolf Smith, Hamid Saleh Haroun al-Tahan & Zolf Smith
Series: everyone lives [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2010019
Comments: 19
Kudos: 78





	sail for the dawn

**Author's Note:**

> the working title of this was "zero magical shenanigans group nap time" 
> 
> they're all so traumatized and I just want them to be kind and safe and loved.

Zolf finds himself humming as he does meal prep, and promptly realizes it's much too quiet. It’s the middle of the afternoon, not that it would matter with the overcast skies and constant rain. Which he can hear, and not any of his friends. The part of his brain that wants to tear apart every good thing starts off about how it’s all been too good and now this is the end. 

And of course it would be now. For the first time in Zolf’s life, everything has worked out. There’s a cost, which was a week of Sasha picking the lock every time he turns around (and sometimes when he doesn’t), Hamid alternating between yelling and sobbing, Azu working out menacingly in the corner or talking about Harrison Campbell, and the angriest goblin Zolf has ever seen - who apologizes to Sasha every half hour for nearly bleeding out in her arms. 

Sasha and Hamid forgive him. Hamid tells him, clearly, repeatedly. Zolf never thought he’d feel the halfling's arms around him again. It’s really nice. Sasha says, one day, apropo of nothing but a late night drinking hot chocolate, “you can’t really say yes if you can’t say no.” He missed their awkward understanding, the way neither of them could ever get together the words to say what they meant. 

The paladins are, well. They are Paladins. But both seem fine that he’s left his god and has unexplainable magic. From what he knows, neither Aphrodite nor Artemis are big fans of Poseidon. On one hand, he’s angry he can’t escape the drama of gods he’s renounced, on the other, it’s nice to have an immediate in with the new members of the team. 

Cel and Sasha get on like a house on fire. There’s a very real chance Zolf is going to have to put out a fire. The thing is, he knows he won’t mind. Much. Wilde has set no less than four grease fires in the kitchen in the inn alone, which isn’t really his fault, poor bastard still wants to rely on magic on instinct. Point is, the kitchen is fireproof, all the people he cares about are under the same roof, some of them back from the dead, and everything is fine. 

Mostly fine. Now it’s too quiet. He puts down his knife, gathers the vegetables into the pot he’ll be making soup in later, and covers them. Then he picks up the knife again, wanting to curse himself for leaving himself unguarded. He listens carefully as he stalks through the inn. 

A noise comes suddenly from the largest dining room Cel has commandeered for their work. His legs are louder than he wishes they were. Not that he’s been sneaky in years. 

“Hiya, Mr. Smith!” Cel stage whispers. Zolf doesn’t drop his weapon but it’s a near thing. 

“Oh Zolf!” calls Hamid, at a similar tone but lesser volume. 

“What’s going on?” Zolf asks, starting to feel like he’s misjudged the situation. He’s still holding the knife. 

“Why do you have a kitchen knife?” Grizzop asks. 

“It was too quiet. I thought. Well, clearly, nothing-” 

“Hey,” Grizzops eyes have softened, despite their bright red hue. “Come sit. Everyone is okay.”

“We’ll deal you in, Mr. Smith,” comes Cel’s voice. “You work too hard. Just as long as you promise to be quiet.” 

“Okay but -” 

“Azu and Sasha finally got to sleep.” Grizzop says, pointing to a nearly hidden hammock along the roof and the sleeping form of Azu on the couch. “We don’t wanna wake them up -”

“Or have them wake up alone.” Hamid calls, from his place mostly trapped with Azu. 

“The hammock was my idea!” Cel announces cheerfully. Which Zolf thinks was brilliant. 

“Right. Sure.” Zolf sits on a comfy chair, which he’s pretty sure someone nicked from the fancier suites. He hasn’t realized how tired he’s been until he just rests. He sighs a little. 

“Are you alright?” Hamid asks. 

“Yeah, legs just give me some trouble? They’re harder on me than water was.” 

Cel perks up at that. “Are they mechanical? Do you want me to take a look? I can’t work on anything else because it’s too far or too loud or both but I won’t do anything without your permission, I’ve just never gotten to look at prothetis-”

“Yeah, that’s fine Cel.” He says as gently as he can, giving them a smile. They grin back. “Good job with the hammock for Sasha.” 

“Oh that was nothing. This, now this is exciting! Do you mind putting the knife down?” Zolf flushes. He doesn’t want to look at Cel, already sitting beside him on the ground, grinning. He doesn’t want to look to Hamid, who already knows the worst of him, or at Grizzop, who he has yet to let down but it’s happening sooner than later. 

He puts the knife down anyways, on the table. “Remind me to take that back to the kitchen,” he says. Cel is already lost in their work, and Hamid has snuggled back into Azu. He seems to be asleep. Zolf can, if he is very still, hear the noise of all of them breathing, even Sasha. It’s soothing. Grizzop sits across from him, with a crate covered in cards and now his chef’s knife. 

“It’s repayment,” Grizzop says, eventually. “When Sasha and I went back, I nearly died on her. If it hadn’t been for magic kicking in that instant, if Azu had been any slower at healing me in Rome, I would have died. Sasha had more of my blood on her than was in me, apparently.” 

“I’m glad you’re still here,” Zolf says. 

“Why?” Grizzop doesn’t sound hopeless, but genuinely interested. Which is fair. 

Zolf has no idea how to respond to that. Cel is in their own little world, but Zolf gets the sense that they’re listening. That’s fine. He trusts them, and he also wouldn’t want to be part of this conversation. 

“The others didn’t deserve to lose another person.” Zofl says. 

“Like you?” Grizzop asks. Which hurts, but he’s right to say it. 

“Yeah.” Zolf tries very hard to keep self loathing out of his voice. The way Cel tenses below him and Grizzop’s gaze change, he didn’t do much of a good job. 

“That doesn’t matter anymore. You’re here now. Now we’re pack,” Grizzop shrugs. “And I’m glad you’re here too. You seem worth trusting.” 

Grizzop can clearly tell Zolf has no real way of coping with all that at once. He’s had practice with Sasha doing the same sort of emotional bluescreen. Instead he shuffles the cards. Cel goes back to their tinkering. 

“Alright, former pirate. Go Fish too close to home?” 

And Zolf, despite himself, laughs, relaxes, and has a pleasant afternoon. 

**Author's Note:**

> I just think this would be a neat dynamic. Why must the world end, why can't they just be happy!
> 
> Also i just think Grizzop and Zolf have the "whats up you depressed bastard?" dynamic and I find that lovely. 
> 
> (anyways I would love to know what u thought lmao)


End file.
